Tennessee Short Line Equity Fund
LAWSUIT PUTS FUNDING IN LIMBO: Improvements to 18 short lines in Tennessee, including the Nashville & Eastern, Nashville & Western, and the Music City Star com- muter line, are funded by the Tennessee De- partment of Transportation Short Line Equi- ty Fund, which is financed by a seven per cent tax on locomotive fuel that’s levied on CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. CSX and NS say the tax is discriminatory and have sued the state in federal court. In Octo- ber a federal judge in Nashville told the Ten- nDOT to stop collecting the tax and froze the fund’s assets. As a result, disbursements from the fund have stopped, pending appeals. Without the state money, the short lines will be unable to make payments on various loans which have allowed them to rehabilitate track, bridges, and equipment.
Union Pacific
GREAT SALT LAKE CAUSEWAY: Union Pacific says that the single remaining culvert on its fill across Utah’s Great Salt Lake is in immediate danger of collapsing. In late Octo- ber, the railroad submitted emergency plans to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which propose to replace the structure with a 180- foot long bridge. The culvert allows extremely salty water from the lake’s North Arm to mix with the less-saline water in the southern half, and a replacement must maintain the existing rate of flow and allow water to move in either direction.
Virginia Museum of Transportation Vermont Rail System Donates Wooden ex-Rutland Cars
THE VERMONT RAIL SYSTEM has donated its last two wooden ex-Rutland Railroad passen- ger cars for display. Coach No. 551 (above) was given to the Rutland Regional Chamber of Com- merce and has been placed on display at the Vermont Farmers Food Center, two blocks from downtown Rutland. The Vermont Country Store and Omya, Inc., donated $5000 to paint and move the car, and the Chamber says a shelter will be built to protect it. The other car, wooden combine No. 260, has been donated to a well-established museum in southern New England, which has requested anonymity until the car has arrived on the property.
Norfolk Southern
ACQUIRES MORE SD40-2s: Norfolk South- ern is taking delivery of another 80 SD40-2s from the Helm Leasing fleet. Numbered 3505- 3584, they are being prepared for service at Metro East Industries in East St. Louis, Ill. The 3000-h.p. road units are of varied ances- try, including Milwaukee Road, Canadian Pa- cific, Union Pacific, Burlington Northern, St. Louis-San Francisco (Frisco), Kennecott Cop- per, Missouri Pacific, Colorado & Southern, and Missouri-Kansas-Texas. They will join another 56 second-hand SD40-2s (Nos. 3448- 3504) on the NS roster which have been ac- quired from CIT Finance and National Rail- way Equipment since 2011.
26 DECEMBER 2013 •
RAILFAN.COM Steam Railroading Institute
PERE MARQUETTE 1225 IS BACK: The Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Mar- quette Berkshire No. 1225 is back in service following its FRA 1472-day inspection and re- build, which started in 2009. Extensive work was performed, including replacing 90 per cent of the firebox along with new washout plugs, cab floor, and plumbing. The 1941 Lima will operate on 16 North Pole Express trips out of Owosso, Mich., on weekends be- tween November 29 and December 22. No. 1225 was the model for the locomotive in the 2004 animated film The Polar Express. Visit michigansteam
train.com for more informa- tion and schedules.
FIRE UP 611 RAISES CASH: The Virginia Museum of Transportation’s Fire Up 611! Committee says nearly 2000 donors have con- tributed enough money to mechanically re- store the museum’s Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 to service. Now the task remains to raise an additional $2 million to $2.5 million to construct and equip a maintenance facility for the locomotive at the VMT site in Roanoke. The new shop will include an exhibit gallery and education center in addition to the space and equipment needed to maintain the loco- motive. The locomotive will be restored by Steam Operations Corp. at the North Carolina Transportation Museum’s Bob Julian Round- house in the former Southern Railway Spencer Shops complex in Spencer, N.C. How- ever, the museum says that the locomotive will remain in Roanoke and its restoration will not commence until funds have been ac- quired to build the new shop at VMT.
X-Train
THROWS SUPPORT TO AMTRAK: Las Vegas Railway Express has shelved plans to operate its own “X-Train” from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nev., over Union Pacific. Now the company will direct its effort to using X-Train equipment on a reconstituted Amtrak train. Amtrak has confirmed that it has held discus- sions with Las Vegas Railway Express.
WILLIAM LOVETT
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